clade
/kleɪd/
"clade" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“clade” is an uncommon English word, ranked #61,371 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #61,371
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A group of animals or other organisms derived from a common ancestor species.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | clade |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kleɪd/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #61,371 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “clade” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for clade is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kleɪd/. Corpus data places it at rank #61,371 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for clade in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “shoot, branch”). Coined by British evolutionary biologist, philosopher, author Julian Huxley in 1957 in a paper titled The Three Types of Evolutionary Process in Nature. Doublet of cladus. The correct English form is clade, spelled C-L-A-D-E.
Definition
- 1A group of animals or other organisms derived from a common ancestor species.
- 2A higher level grouping of a genetic haplogroup.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κλάδος (kládos, “shoot, branch”). Coined by British evolutionary biologist, philosopher, author Julian Huxley in 1957 in a paper titled The Three Types of Evolutionary Process in Nature. Doublet of cladus.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “clade”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-L-A-D-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kleɪd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.